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Belle Chose
|ratings = 1.0/3 |IGN = 7.4/10 |AV Club = B+}} "Belle Chose" is the third episode of the second season of Dollhouse and the 16th episode overall. It was written by Tim Minear and directed by David Solomon. It aired on October 9th, 2009. Premise Echo and Victor’s imprints collide when Echo is sent on an assignment as a fun-loving, seductive college student and Victor is imprinted as the psychotic nephew of a Dollhouse shareholder (guest star Michael Hogan). Terry Karrens is a wealthy serial killer who collects women. His uncle Bradley knows about this and protects him from the police. He suffered a mishap and ended up poisoned with his own drugs. Delirious, he wandered into traffic and suffered brain damage. Bradley asked the Dollhouse to transfer Terry's mind into another body, but during the checkup, Topher realizes that Karrens is a psychopath. Themes The episode's literary subplot for the first half, in which Echo is hired out by a medieval literature professor, examines notions of empowerment. Professor Edmond Gossen suggests to Kiki Turner (Echo) the example of The Wife of Bath from Geoffrey Chaucer's Middle English poem The Canterbury Tales. Drawing on Chaucer's Wife of Bath, he posits a notion of female empowerment whereby women can utilise sex as a means to manipulate men, insinuating Kiki could seduce him to improve her grades from an F to an A. However, the situation illustrates many ways in which men still retain power in these situations: the entire Gossen-Kiki encounter is a fiction of Gossen's mind, and while Kiki believes she is exercising her own agency in seducing her professor, in reality she is Echo whose consent to have sex is an irrelevancy. A male-dominated world means that these expressions of female 'power' are illusory, as they ultimately serve to satisfy male pleasure. The parallels between Kiki and Echo as separate identities would suggest that under Gossen's view, Echo in the Wife of Bath role must endure the sexual economy of the Dollhouse in order to construct the cognizant identity and in turn power to enact her own nascent plan to 'free' the Dolls. The paralyzed women in Karren's lair are of course parallels to the dolls themselves, immobilized and forced to endure suffering and roleplay scenarios, with fleeting moments of agency and designs for freedom. The episode also makes some questions about gender roles and authority. Ballard comments to Terry Karrens that all of his names are girls' names. When Kiki is transferred to Victor's body, there is no scene which illustrates a realization of a new gender identity; rather, she continues in her ordinary personality, and flamboyant behaviour, which causes club patrons to mistake her for a gay man. add to this section with your own thematic analysis, while trying to maintain a balance of interpretations as you edit. Cast Main cast *Eliza Dushku as Echo/Kiki Turner/Terry Karrens *Harry Lennix as Boyd Langton *Fran Kranz as Topher Brink *Tahmoh Penikett as Paul Ballard *Enver Gjokaj as Victor/Terry Karrens/Kiki Turner *Dichen Lachman as Sierra (credit only) *and Olivia Williams as Adelle DeWitt Recurring roles *Liza Lapira as Ivy Guest starring *Michael Hogan as Bradley Karrens *Joe Sikora as Terry Karrens *Arye Gross as Professor Edmond Gossen *Matt Winston as Franklin *Danielle Langlois as Aunt Sheila *Susan Ziegler as Robin ("Mother") *Deanna Douglas as Megan ("Little Sister") *Tara Holt as Big Sister Background Information Production This episode was shot before 2x02 "Instinct". The original intended order can be discerned from the fact that Paul is clearly new to his job as handler in this episode and has never been to the part of the Dollhouse where Actives are dressed for engagements, but "Instinct" opens with him overseeing an extended engagement. Also, this episode shows the immediate fallout of Dr. Saunders's departure. Acting Enver Gjokaj described his approach to playing Terry Karrens as follows: "I've never gotten the opportunity to play someone like that before. I was able to approach it differently this time, cause if I'm imprinted with someone you've already seen in the episode, as we did with Dominic last season, obviously I'm making their acting choices. They allowed me to establish this character, which means that they shot me first, then had the guest actor.... I guess the rest of it was the writing. There was a gentility and a bizarre self-control that was written into the character because this character feels like if he doesn't control his urges then someone could die or he could basically kill someone -- which he does." Reception Critics Ratings "Belle Chose" reached 2.24 million viewers, a 1.4/2 Rating/Share, a 1.0/3 Rating/Share in the 18-49 demographic and a 1.1/3 Rating/Share in the 25-54 demographic. It ranked No. 3 in the hour among Adults 18-49 and Teens and No. 2 among Adults 18-34. The half-hour breakdown showed 2.295 million viewers, a 1.0/4 Rating/Share in the 18-49 demo and a 1.0/4 Rating/Share in the 18-34 demo between 9:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., and 2.198 million viewers, a 1.0/3 Rating/Share in the 18-49 demo and a 1.1/4 Rating/Share in the 18-34 demo between 9:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. The episode received a 1.4 Live+7 Rating/Share in the 18-49 demo, which is a 40% past airdate demo increase via DVR (that's the second biggest percentage increase for broadcast TV shows of that week). 29% of all demo viewing happened past airdate via DVR, that's the second biggest percentage for broadcast TV shows of that week. Quotes :(Ballard walks in with Victor firmly latched on to him) Music *Little Boots - "Remedy" plays in the disco where Kiki is dancing. Promotional Photos Image:Promo-bellechose-01.jpg Image:Promo-bellechose-02.jpg Image:Promo-bellechose-03.jpg Image:Promo-bellechose-04.jpg Image:Promo-bellechose-05.jpg Image:Promo-bellechose-06.jpg Image:Promo-bellechose-07.jpg Image:Promo-bellechose-08.jpg Image:Promo-bellechose-09.jpg Image:Promo-bellechose-10.jpg Notes & References Geoffrey Chaucer; Sheila Karrens; Beverly Hills; Remote Wipe External Links *"Belle Chose" at the Official Dollhouse Wiki *"Belle Chose" at tv.com *"Belle Chose" at IMDb 16